"Gwyneth is coming back for two episodes. She's coming back specifically to date [Matthew Morrison's character] Will," Murphy tells EW. "Those two have become really good friends in real life and had really good chemistry. She's coming back as a sex education teacher. Gwyneth and I are emailing, talking every week: What are we gonna sing? We're trying to do something fantastic. So she'll be [in episodes] 15 and 16. She comes back [to film] in January and she's with us for three and a half weeks I think."

Then, in March or April, Gaga's upcoming single, "Born This Way," which hasn't been released yet, will be featured in a new episode about McKinnley High's closeted gay bully, Dave Karofsky (played by Max Adler).

"I love that that song is anthem," says Murphy. "This show is by nature optimistic and I think a character like Karofsky could turn to booze or pills or alcohol and kill themselves or do something dark. But I also love Max and I love that character and I sorta want that character to have a happy ending. So I don't really know what that's going to be, but I do know we're going to do a whole episode that's about that song."

The magazine also reports that Kristin Chenoweth will return to play April Rhodes in multiple episodes and that rumors of a Justin Bieber episode are not true.

"Those [tributes] are reserved for artists with big catalogs," Murphy explains. "Bieber comes up in episode 13 as a small plot point. Sam (played by Chord Overstreet) sings a JB song to win Quinn's (played by Dianna Aragon) approval."